The Al Franken Podcast

4.6 (8K)
POLITICS
UPDATED WEEKLY

A five-time Emmy winning SNL comedy writer/producer, joins a four-time #1 NYT bestselling author, a three-time highest-rated national progressive radio host, a two-time Grammy winning artist, and a former US Senator. So, it gets a little crowded in the booth when Al talks public policy and sometimes political comedy with notable guests. Think “The Daily” without the resources of the NYTimes.

4D AGO

David Frum on Trump’s Venezuela Venture

We had a chaotic start to the new year with Donald Trump invading Venezuela and kidnapping dictator Nicolás Maduro. We’re joined by The Atlantic's David Frum to help us make sense of and give us important context on the situation. Trump says that America is running the country and might be there for years to come. It sounds more like old-fashioned imperialism than a democratic transition. Trump has openly admitted that this is about oil. He says he's taking Venezuelan oil and putting it into a special account controlled only by the President. Isn't it the job of Congress to appropriate how money is spent in this country? We also discuss the administration's plans for Greenland. Are we actually prepared to seize it from our NATO ally, Denmark? Trump says yes. How crazy is that?! Al also shares his thoughts on the horrific situation in his home state of Minnesota as ICE’s reckless aggression led to the murder of Renee Good. READ David Frum in The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/author/david-frum/ LISTEN to The David Frum Show: https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/the-david-frum-show/ SUPPORT THE SHOW BY VISITING OUR SPONSORS: Bundle up with some warm weather clothes from Quince! Get free shipping and 365-Day returns at https://www.quince.com/Franken Visit American Giant to get their Classic Full Zip Hoodie and other cold weather staples. Get 20% off of your first order with code FRANKEN at checkout! https://www.american-giant.com

50 min
JAN 4

BEST OF: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse on How Dark Money Captured SCOTUS

In this Best Of episode, we revisit our 2023 conversation with Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. We talked to Sen. Whitehouse about his book, “The Scheme,” which examines how dark money and radical right wing activists worked tirelessly to gain control of the Supreme Court.Sen. Whitehouse lays out all the key players in this effort, including The Federalist Society and Leonard Leo, the main architect of this mission. By filtering dark money through dozens of agencies and blocking Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland, the right wing has a chokehold on the SCOTUS majority. As a result, we've seen rulings that are horrible for abortion rights, climate change, voting rights, and so much more.Sen. Whitehouse also explains some of the ways that the extremist takeover of the judicial system can be reigned in, but it's going to be a fight. READ Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse's book, “The Scheme”: https://thenewpress.org/books/9781620978344/

46 min
12/28/2025

BEST OF: Jimmy Kimmel on His Career in Comedy!

In this Best Of episode, we revisit our 2020 conversation with Jimmy Kimmel! We go through his long career, beginning with his start in radio and his transition to television.We discuss the birth of Jimmy’s late night show back in 2003 and how, in his own words, the show was "genuinely terrible.” With time, Jimmy figured it out and established a template for what makes a good show and learned what makes a good guest versus a bad guest. A major turning point for Jimmy was when his son battled health challenges. He became more vocal on issues like healthcare, which led to him butting heads with the GOP over their attempts at repealing the Affordable Care Act. While this interview was in 2020, Jimmy continues to butt heads with the GOP, which resulted in his censorship battle with ABC and the Trump administration earlier this year.WATCH Jimmy Kimmel Live! https://www.youtube.com/jimmykimmelliveREAD what I wrote when Kimmel was (temporarily) taken off air: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/trump-attack-political-satire-kimmel-colbert-1235431290/Visit our sponsor Ghostbed and get 25% off of your purchase. Use the code FRANKEN at checkout: https://www.ghostbed.com/FrankenBundle up with some warm weather clothes from Quince! Get free shipping and 365-Day returns at https://www.quince.com/Franken

1h 1m
12/21/2025

David A. Graham on What Project 2025 Wrought

Throughout the 2024 election, we all heard about the dangers of Project 2025, yet somehow it’s worse than we imagined. Trump continuously said he didn't know anything about it (but he did), and nearly a year after his swearing in, we've seen a huge portion of it already implemented. We're joined by The Atlantic’s David A. Graham, author of the new book, “The Project: How Project 2025 is Shaping America.”In just 138 pages, David covers the entire 920-page document. He explains how many of the authors of Project 2025 saw Trump's first term as a failure because he was stopped from accomplishing his core goals - like building the border wall and repealing Obamacare. The answer was to create a shadow administration that would guide his policy decisions if he made it back to office.We run through a variety of issues that are being influenced by Project 2025, including immigration and border security, education, and trade. And we discuss the most influential figure, Russell Vought, current Director of the Office of Management and Budget. One of his main priorities? Inflict pain on government employees.Plus, Al remembers his friends, Rob and Michele Reiner.READ David's book, “The Project”: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/800230/the-project-by-david-a-graham/Visit our sponsor Ghostbed and get 25% off of your purchase. Use the code FRANKEN at checkout: https://www.ghostbed.com/FrankenProtect yourself and your family from cybercrime this holiday season with 75% off from our sponsor Webroot! https://www.webroot.com/frankenBundle up with some warm weather clothes from Quince! Get free shipping and 365-Day returns at https://www.quince.com/Franken

55 min
12/14/2025

Franklin Foer & Anne Applebaum on The Globe in 2025!

As we approach the end of 2025, we take a look back at what happened around the world in Trump’s first year back in office. We're joined by two of the best foreign policy writers we know: Franklin Foer and Anne Applebaum from The Atlantic! We discuss the EIGHT wars and conflicts that Trump has single handedly ended, while also examining the ongoing conflicts in The Middle East, Ukraine, Venezuela, and more.Anne and Frank explain why Trump's Middle East peace plan isn't holding up and why we all should have been skeptical of it from the start. We also look at why the administration's plan for peace between Russia and Ukraine looks like it was written by the Russians themselves. And, of course, we discuss Trump's blatant corruption in both of those theatres.Anne also shares her heartbreaking firsthand account of what the USAID cuts have done to the rest of the world. It highlights the shortsightedness of the entire first year of Trump’s second term.READ Franklin's work in The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/author/franklin-foer/READ Anne's work in The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/author/anne-applebaum/Check out our sponsor Ollie for premium dog food! Go to https://www.ollie.com/franken and use code FRANKEN to get 60% off your first box.

1h 2m
12/07/2025

Mark Leibovich on Hegseth, Trump, & More!

We're joined by the great Mark Leibovich from The Atlantic to run through some of the wild stories fresh out of Washington. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is facing criticisms on multiple fronts: Not only was it reported that he ordered the killing of two survivors from a bombed alleged drug trafficking boat, a Pentagon Inspector General also found that he put American troops' lives in danger with his reckless messages on Signal. Could we see Trump turn on Hegseth?We also recap the marathon Cabinet meeting. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spent his time kissing Trump's ass, and Trump (when he was awake) broke out into an maliciously racist rant about Somalis.Plus, we talk MORE shady pardons (including the former Honduran President and convicted drug trafficker), Trump's sinking approval ratings, and Dick Cheney!READ Mark's writing in The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/author/mark-leibovich/Protect yourself and your family from cybercrime this holiday season with 75% off from our sponsor Webroot! https://www.webroot.com/frankenVisit our sponsor OneSkin for all of your skincare needs! Use the code FRANKEN at checkout to get 15% off of your order: https://www.oneskin.co/FRANKENGet 10% off your first order from Graza Olive Oil. Use the code FRANKEN at checkout: https://partners.graza.co/FRANKENVisit our sponsor Ghostbed and get 25% off of your purchase. Use the code FRANKEN at checkout: https://www.ghostbed.com/Franken

56 min
11/30/2025

David Kirkpatrick on Trump’s Immense and Shameless Profiteering

One of Donald Trump's most successful initiatives in his second term has been making himself and his family richer than ever. We're joined by The New Yorker’s David Kirkpatrick, who earlier this year wrote a piece outlining all the ways the legendary grifters have cashed in during Trump’s presidency. The Trump family has long been associated with shameless cash grabs, but we have reached new levels of corruption by using his office for their money-making schemes: international real estate deals, Trump-branded merchandise, and cryptocurrency.David lays out the long list of ethical implications involved and calculates the staggering amount of money Donald Trump and his family have made off of his presidency.READ David's piece “The Number” in The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/08/18/the-numberProtect yourself and your family from cybercrime this holiday season with our newest sponsor, Webroot! Use code FRANKEN at checkout: https://www.webroot.com/frankenGet free shipping and 365-day returns on wardrobe shopping with our sponsor, Quince! Use code FRANKEN at checkout! https://www.quince.com/frankenVisit our sponsor OneSkin for all of your skincare needs! Use code FRANKEN at checkout to get 15% off of your order: https://www.oneskin.co/FRANKEN

55 min
11/23/2025

Lawyer Liz Oyer on Trump’s Corrupt Pardons

In Donald Trump's second term, we've seen a flurry of pardons and commutations. Of course, every President is granted the pardon power, but with this administration, pardons often seem to have a price tag. We're joined by Liz Oyer, former US pardon attorney (appointed by Biden and fired by Trump), to discuss some of the shadier pardons doled out during Trump's second term (so far). Oyer lays out how several of Trump’s pardons are motivated by money, loyalty, and retribution. Of course, we discuss the blanket pardon of the January 6th rioters, but we also examine the pardon of cryptocurrency-crook Changpeng Zhao, who Oyer says "might be the most corrupt pardon in American history."We dig into Trump's current pardon attorney, Ed Martin, a political operative who believes in "No MAGA left behind." Even Republicans found him too extreme to be a US Attorney, so Trump put him in charge of pardons and commutations. Plus, we get Oyer's unfiltered opinion of the Ghislane Maxwell/Jeffrey Epstein saga AND Hunter Biden's pardon at the end of Joe Biden's term. READ Liz Oyer's Substack at https://www.lawyeroyer.com/Check out our sponsor Ollie for premium dog food! Go to https://www.ollie.com/franken and use code FRANKEN to get 60% off your first box.Check out our sponsor OneSkin for all of your skincare needs! Go to https://www.oneskin.co/FRANKEN and use code FRANKEN to get 15% off of your order.

52 min

See All (367)

Al Franken

Host
David Frum

Guest
Sheldon Whitehouse

Guest
Jimmy Kimmel

Guest
David A. Graham

Guest
Frank Foer

Guest
Anne Applebaum

Guest
Mark Leibovich

Guest
Molly Jong-Fast

Guest
Norm Ornstein

Guest

4.6

out of 5

7,967 Ratings

Trump

11/30/2025

innovation Toni

Hi Al, My Sunday is Not complete without your podcast. I have enjoyed most of your podcasts except today with David Kirkpatrick. There were moments where he didn’t entirely believe Trump’s grift and favors. He making $ hand over fist, the reason he wanted to be President not serving the American people. Thanks and keep up the good work.
Thank you

10/26/2025

Lutabuta

I loved hearing Larry review the main legal issues pressing us up against the glass. We are all holding our breath!
Your Guests

11/02/2025

Ruthie1818

I like listening to your analysis & perspective Mr Franken; however, I absolutely can’t stand listening to or reading anything Racist David Hogg or Sexist David Weigel have to say! One was suspended from WaPo when it was good for reposting sexist anti feminist content and one was fired from their DNC job for trying to primary black duly elected Democrats! Their unbelievable intrinsic biases negate anything they print or say. Maybe, enough with the Davids for now.
Baltimore Mayor

09/14/2025

Cindyjoy68

Great fricking show

A five-time Emmy winning SNL comedy writer/producer, joins a four-time #1 NYT bestselling author, a three-time highest-rated national progressive radio host, a two-time Grammy winning artist, and a former US Senator. So, it gets a little crowded in the booth when Al talks public policy and sometimes political comedy with notable guests. Think “The Daily” without the resources of the NYTimes.